Tell Baystate Medical Center: Stop Using Live Pigs in Trauma Training

Recently, Massachusetts General hospital stopped its use of live animals in trauma training courses, leaving Baystate Medical Center as the only hospital left in Massachusetts - and one just a handful in the country - that continues to use live pigs in their trauma training.

During training at Baystate, the chests and throats of the pigs are cut into, and tubes are often inserted down their throats. After the surgery, the animals are euthanized.

The American College of Surgeons approved non-animal training procedures, including the TraumaMan system, which Baystate already owns. 95 percent of medical centers now use non-animal based methods of training.

It is time that Baystate joins the majority of other medical centers, and stops killing pigs unnecessarily.

I recently read on Change.org that Baystate Medical Center continues to use live pigs in your trauma training courses.

A year ago, the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine asked Baystate to stop performing unnecessary surgery on live pigs, and instead conduct your training on the TraumaMan System.

I am writing you now to ask you again to please stop the use of live pigs in your trauma training courses.

Recently, Massachusetts General Hospital announced that it had ended its use of live animals in trauma training and had switched to superior, human-based methods. In fact, most medical centers in the United States no longer use live pigs in their trauma training, and all Canadian schools have ended the practice.

I hope you'll consider making these humane changes, and that you will chose to do so as quickly as possible.